Milo Coe Monument

Say it Ain’t Coe
Milo Coe Monument, Hartland

Certainly not every monument and memorial gets a place on this website. I choose based on those that have extra historic merit, have some superlative attached, or are otherwise unique.

The Milo Coe roadside monument, mere yards from the Massachusetts border, along a remote forested road in northern Hartland memorializes a random kid, isn’t the most or first anything, and isn’t all that unique. Milo Coe wasn’t even a Connecticut resident! And yet… I feel compelled to create a page about it. Partially because of its remote location, partially because it simply exists where it does and for as long as it has, partially because this is Hartland and Hartland can use all the CTMQ content it can get, but mostly because of the stories attached to it. This whole page is worth reading, even if it will leave you perplexed in the end.

The Hartland Historical Society provides the stories about the monument, which include some mystery and intrigue – in 1851 and in 1973. It is these stories that prompted me to find my way to Milo Coe Road heading towards Massachusetts in search of a small obelisk in the woods. Everything below is from the Historical Society website, and I believe it was the writer’s father who is responsible for erecting the monument.

Moment in the Lonely Woods – by Stanley A. Ransom

A traveler making the journey from West Hartland to West Granville is confronted with the necessity of traversing a lonely stretch of wooded road. The branches of the trees on either side interlace at the top and shut out most of the sunlight even on a bright midsummer day.

If a pedestrian, a stranger, and observant in nature, he is startled when midway in the sylvan gloom to behold a conventional cemetery monument by the roadside on which the following inscription appears:

Milo B., son of Harlow and Mary Coe,

Died October 18, 1851, age 11 years.

He was found dead in front of this monument supposed to have fallen from a cart in which he was riding and instantly killed.

Here is the story: Milo B. Coe lived in the house where I was later born, which is the first house over the State line in Granville, Massachusetts. As was the custom in those days, boys of what would now be considered the tender age of 11 years were entrusted with jobs out of proportion to their age.

It was in the fall of the years, October 18, 1851, to be exact, and consequently was the time for making apple cider. Milo was sent with a load of cider apples to a farm about two miles distance from his home where a cider mill was located. He was driving a pair of oxen hitched to one of those old-style two-wheeled ox-carts filled to the brim with loose apples. He was riding on the top of the cart in a standing position with only the usual whip to control the oxen. In addition, he was all alone and the road, at that time, as is still today, was through a long stretch of woods.

Just how it happened has never been definitely established. Some say that neighboring farm boys hid in the woods and threw stones at the oxen casing them to jump and throw Milo from the cart. Others say some animal may have been the cause of the oxen becoming frightened. The first that was known of the tragedy was when the oxen returned home without their driver and a search was started for the boy. He was found dead in front of the place where the present marker now stands. Death was due to a concussion, his head having come in contact with a large stone by the side of the road as he fell from the cart. He is buried in the Old West Hartland cemetery in the Coe family plot and not by the marker as some erroneously conclude.

Milo attended what was then the little red schoolhouse in West Hartland. A short time after his untimely death, his schoolmates raised some $35 (a sizeable sum in those days), and erected this monument at the scene of his death. For over 100 years it has been a familiar landmark to all who have lived in this neighborhood.

On the day of Milo’s death his mother had company in the person a neighbor who was making her a visit. All through the day Mrs. Coe remarked to her at frequent intervals, “I have a feeling that something dreadful will happen today.” It was only a short time later that the men came bringing the body of Milo and laid him on the couch in the sitting-room.

This section of the road has recently been named the Mile Coe Road, in memory of the boy whose death was so tragic and untimely.

This is the story as I have heard it so many times from the old-timers who were our neighbors after my father and mother lived for nearly 30 years in the house where Milo was born, lived, and died.

I’ve no idea when that was written, but in 1973, someone stole the granite monument. And that makes this one of the oddest thefts I’ve ever heard of. An article appeared in the Register Citizen about the monument, which is where the following is from. It’s tough to follow, but I’ve tried to nurse it a bit.

The thief left the sturdy base, which became overgrown in the decade of its disappearance. It was stolen in March 1973 and until 1984, residents of Hartland never expected to see the simple tribute to the young boy again.

The story of its recovery began several weeks ago. That’s when police officer Thomas Chappell of West Hartland, a member of the Metropolitan District Commission Police Force, discovered an iron safe near the bottom of the Goodwin Dam in Colebrook and reported it to state police. While the safe was later reported stolen from a Canton restaurant, Chappell wondered if the incident could be connected with reports of a man reported to be flashing large sums of money in the area. The same man was also asking about the disappearance of a monument from the area years before.

Chappell was curious and began asking local residents about the monument. Finally he discovered a man camping in Granville State Forest. A 4-foot-high stone monument standing outside his tent was the same one stolen from alongside the road in West Hartland in March 1973.

According to the information supplied by Chappell and the state police, officers moved in on Labor Day, the last day campers were allowed in the forest and the statue was recovered.

While police are not releasing the name of the individual involved in the incident, they did say he wanted to return the statue, which for all these years lay hidden behind his garage.

According to two sources, the man took the statue on a dare while passing through the area. He returned to the area this summer with the intention to replace the statue on its pedestal or to return it to local authorities.

A state police spokesman said it is unknown whether there would be any charges brought against the man because of the amount of time that had passed since the monument was stolen.

Under state law, statute of limitations for a felony is five years, and for a misdemeanor, one year.

Leonard Ransom, a native of West Hartland, said he remembered local reaction when the monument was discovered missing. “People here were pretty disappointed. No one could understand why someone would want to do such a thing. As far as they were concerned it was like taking a stone from a graveyard.”, he said.

Hartland First Selectman William L. Flagg, who is also a lieutenant on the MDC force, praised Chappell’s work in locating the monument for the town. He said the monument is owned by the town, and would probably be turned over to the Hartland Historical Society. Flagg expects to bring the monument back to town this week.

Flagg noted it was the second time the monument was removed from its pedestal. The first time it was returned after a few days.

As for Chappell, a six-year veteran of the force, he just would like to see the monument back on the tree-shaded country road that has changed little since young Coe traveled on it 133 years ago bringing apples to a cider mill.

And as for me (Steve, the guy who writes this website and rarely uses so many words from others), that’s just a weird story right? I get the prank/lark bit of it all, but why did this dude have it in the middle of the woods camping with him? How did he carry it with him? How strong was this guy? What in the world did the stolen safe from Canton found in Colebrook have to do with this guy? Was the monument thief the safe thief? Was the guy flashing money around town the safe thief?

Now I can’t sleep.

The Hartland Historical Society
CTMQ’s Statuary, Monuments, & Plaques